T-minus 12 days to Salt Lake Comic Con 2016

Okay, so now we’re 12 days out from this year’s iteration of Salt Lake Comic Con. Let’s take a look at what we’ve got going on, guest-wise, shall we.

From CW’s Arrow: Stephen Amell makes his triumphant return. Manu Bennett returns to his home away from home. Katie Cassidy, Sean Maher, and Tahmoh Penikett are all new arrivals. And that doesn’t include the tease Bryan Brandenburg dropped this morning that they still have “at least one more” Arrow guest to announce.

Not bad.

From The Walking Dead, we have the ever-popular Michael Rooker, Seth Gilliam, and Lennie James.

We have John Cena (who I have somehow lost sight of….) from the WWE.

We have William Shatner, in all his Captain Kirk glory.

We have a Dukes of Hazzard reunion, with Tom Wopat, John Schneider, and Catherine Bach.

We have Arthur Darvill from Doctor Who.

We have Luna Lovegood herself, Evanna Lynch, from the Harry Potter films.

We have voice actors, Vampires, Supernatural stars, Buffy stars, Comic Book Men, animators, artists, and too many other guests to mention.

Dan Farr and Bryan Brandenburg even pulled off what seems like a huge coup: they got the star of the newest Netflix sensation, Stranger Things, Millie Bobby Brown, to come.

And she would have been the biggest surprise, too, if there hadn’t been an announcement a couple of days earlier.

Mark Hamill: Luke Skywalker, the Joker, and long-time fan favorite, will be appearing for one day only (Thursday, September 1), before jetting off to Canada to do three days at a convention.

Which, predictably, resulted in the Salt Lake fans doing this:

Originally slated to have a panel and photo-ops, the situation kind of spiraled out of control, until it reached proportions that the Salt Palace, with its ~5000 seat main ballroom couldn’t hope to contain.

Leading to this incredibly terrible pun:

“That’s no panel room, that’s a 20,000 seat NBA arena.”

Yep. In what is being billed as the largest panel ever at a comic con, Mark Hamill will hold court over the massive Vivant Smart Home Arena, home to the NBA’s Utah Jazz. And, unlike what other comic cons might do, this panel is included in the cost of the fans’ already purchased passes, whether single day or VIP. As long as there’s a seat, fans will be able to see Mark Hamill at his only U.S. con appearance this year.

That is just a part of why Salt Lake has “the greatest comic con in the world.”*

*Whew*

Anybody still worried about the guest list?

Not this guy.

Oh, and don’t forget: we still have 12 days–TWELVE DAYS–before the doors open. More than enough time to pull another rabbit (or 2, or 3…) out of their hats.